Analysts Set Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) PT at $659.00

Shares of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $655.30.

A number of analysts have recently commented on NOC shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Northrop Grumman from $628.00 to $587.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Northrop Grumman from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Northrop Grumman from $620.00 to $580.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 26th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $815.00 target price on shares of Northrop Grumman in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $620.00 price target on shares of Northrop Grumman in a report on Wednesday, July 8th.

Northrop Grumman Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:NOC opened at $571.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Northrop Grumman has a 1 year low of $479.02 and a 1 year high of $774.00. The company has a market cap of $81.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.14, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of -0.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $534.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $616.65.

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The aerospace company reported $7.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.82 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $10.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.80 billion. Northrop Grumman had a return on equity of 24.25% and a net margin of 10.48%.Northrop Grumman’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $8.15 EPS. Northrop Grumman has set its FY 2026 guidance at 28.600-29.100 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Northrop Grumman will post 28.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Northrop Grumman Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $2.47 per share. This represents a $9.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. This is a boost from Northrop Grumman’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.31. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Northrop Grumman’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Northrop Grumman news, Director Mark A. Welsh III sold 95 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $547.53, for a total value of $52,015.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,405,299.29. This represents a 2.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Northrop Grumman

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NOC. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Northrop Grumman by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 61,436 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $41,914,000 after buying an additional 4,041 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,740,721 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,835,097,000 after acquiring an additional 209,135 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Northrop Grumman by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 111,927 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $63,822,000 after acquiring an additional 9,924 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,149,478 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,793,478,000 after acquiring an additional 17,948 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors raised its stake in shares of Northrop Grumman by 70.1% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 4,497 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.40% of the company’s stock.

Northrop Grumman Company Profile

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is a leading U.S.-based aerospace and defense company that designs, builds and sustains advanced systems, products and technologies for government and commercial customers. Formed through the combination of Northrop and Grumman businesses in the 1990s, the company’s portfolio spans manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems, missile defense, radar and sensor systems, and integrated command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions.

The company’s work includes airframe and platform manufacturing, space hardware and satellite systems, advanced mission systems and cybersecurity services, as well as logistics, sustainment and modernization programs.